Technical Field
The present disclosure generally pertains to optical connectors and duplex connector assemblies for optical communication links.
Description of the Related Art
Optical communication links, such as fiber optical cables, provide high speed transmission of data with relatively low loss. In order to allow for ease of adjusting networks of communication links, such as coupling and decoupling to various components or joining segments of fibers into longer lengths, each end of the fiber optical cable is held by an optical connector.
Generally described, optical connectors hold the end of the fiber optical cable in position and engage with another component, such as an adaptor, to align the held fiber optical cable with another fiber optical cable, which may also be held by an optical connector. In the adaptor, the two optical connectors are designed to align the endfaces of the two fiber optical cables being held by the respective optical connectors and to abut the endfaces in physical contact with each other so that optical signals can travel between the abutting fiber optical cables.
As mentioned above, optical connectors allow for ease of coupling and decoupling various optical fibers together. Some optical connectors, such as LC optical connectors, which may also be referred to as local optical connectors, have a flexible member that is integrally formed with a housing. The integrally formed flexible member is used to couple and decouple the optical connector from an adaptor or component that receives the optical connector. Repeated flexing of the flexible member can cause fatigue in the flexible member of the optical connector, thereby shortening the life of the connector. This is particularly problematic for optical connectors used on test cords with test equipment, which are subjected to unusually high usage.